Commerce Cabinet Crisis II
By the time of William C. Redfield’s resignation in 1919, the wheels had really fallen off Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. The Versailles Treaty had failed ratification in the Senate, the 1918 midterms were a big win for the Republicans, Wilson had suffered strokes and alienated longtime political allies, Attorney-General Mitchell Palmer was undertaking the most serious violations of civil liberties in American history, the Spanish Flu pandemic had killed tons of people, etc.
Not known to have participated in this in any noteworthy way was Congressman Joshua W. Alexander of Gallatin, Missouri. Alexander was born in Ohio in 1852, but moved to Missouri as a child and attended public school and college there, becoming a lawyer and setting up his law practice in Gallatin in 1875. He became president of the Gallatin Board of Education, and then joined the Missouri House of Representatives, rising to serve as its Speaker in 1887. He then briefly served as mayor of Gallatin and then was a judge from 1901 to 1907 when he entered congress. As a member of the House of Representatives he was dispatched to be the American delegate to the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea which was formed in the wake of the sinking of the Titanic. When Redfield resigned, Wilson tapped Alexander as his replacement and he helmed the department—doing, as usual for Commerce Secretaries, nothing important—throughout the remainder of the Wilson Administration.
36 Responses to “Commerce Cabinet Crisis II”
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January 25th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
How about a series on the Secretaries of the Interior? Talk about a do nothing bunch…
Interior became a cabinet department in 1849, and since then we’ve had 50 Secretaries of the Interior (we’ve had 32 Presidents in that time, and that includes Taylor and Garfield who died shortly in office and Cleveland twice.)
January 25th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
JD, Secretary of the Interior is a GREAT place to be for some old-school corruption.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I am interested to read how you will treat Herbert Hoover. Most historians agree that as Secretary of Commerce under Harding and Coolidge, Hoover was a highly significant figure. See Ellis Hawley, Joan Hoff, and William Leach.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
10 Million low income Americans –most of them probably Obama supporters –are about to lose their Television reception.
All because Obama and Podesta are listening to Lord Pillsbury’s claim that the Commerce Secretary isn’t important.
People receiving broadcast TV have to buy $70 Analog to digital converters before the mid-February transition. They are supposed to get $40 coupons from the government to offset the cost — and as a sop for the government selling the PUBLIC’s airwaves to private interests.
However, the coupon funding ran out around Jan 2. So Americans are about to see Obama shoveling $Trillions to superrich bankers while fucking the common American on his $40 rebate.
But shorter Matthew: Let them watch [$100/month] Cable.
I want my fucking rebate, Matthew, and I want it now. Fix this.
Don’t make me have to come down to DC and whip your Hermes-covered Hispanic ass, Harvard boy.
IT’s always sunny in Philadelphia.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
The TV rebate program is run by the Commerce Secretary.
See https://www.dtv2009.gov/Stats.aspx
If I miss the resumption of the Sarah Conner Chronicles, I’m gonna be pissed.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Wow. When the trolls here stop being funny, they do it all at once.
January 25th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Hey, everything I know about politics I learned from Frank Reynolds. Lie, use low animal cunning, exploit relationships. And when that fails, branish a 38 snubnose.
Oh, yes. You can’t expect people to give you their votes –or bribes –if you don’t ask for them.
January 25th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
If I miss the resumption of the Sarah Conner Chronicles, I’m gonna be pissed.
It’ll be on Hulu later in the week. Or you can spend the 70 bucks. At minimum wage, you’ve already spent the equivalent in time bitching about this.
January 25th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
The situation with the DTV delay seems somewhat complicated. Don, write your local TV stations to tell them to delay the transition once the DTV delay act is passed.
January 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Re Matt Weiner’s comment “The situation with the DTV delay seems somewhat complicated”
————–
“Complicated”? As in “something we need a Commerce Secretary to straighten out?”
I thought we didn’t need no stinkin’ Commerce Secretary.
From your link:
“In fact more than 6.5 million U.S. households are still not prepared for the transition, according to the Nielsen Co.
Many of these individuals are minorities…
…But the government has run out of money for the vouchers, and as of Wednesday the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administers the voucher program, reported that there was a waiting list of 2.6 million for new coupons. What’s more, many consumers say they have had trouble redeeming coupons or their coupons have expired already.”
January 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
But Wall Street needs $1.5 Trillion to cover their gambling bets. No problem. Check’s in the mail, baby.
January 25th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Of course, those 6.5 million low income households won’t receive a fucking cent from the sale of THEIR FUCKING PUBLIC AIRWAYS to private interests by the Democrats and Republicans.
Although they WILL have the privilege of paying $100 per month to subscribe to FOX cable — so that Bill O’Reilly can help lie them into sending their sons into another war.
After all, CABLE TV — UNLIKE broadcast TV — has NO responsibility to the public and only serves the interests of the fucking plutocrats which own it.
January 25th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Actually, people can still buy the new box, just not with the coupon. That is still an undesirable expense, but it is a one-time $70, not a requirement to pay for cable every month for the rest of one’s life.
January 25th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
“The Spanish Flu pandemic had killed tons of people, etc.”
More Spanish Flu blogging please. That was a huge public health event in our history and it’s rarely discussed.
January 25th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Don Williams – I don’t have one of those boxes either. Obama has supported delaying the roll-out of the change to digital broadcast in order to buy time to straighten out a problem that he inherited.
The supply of converter boxes is at least as big a problem as the funding of the certificate program, a program that in hindsight was stupid as hell. The government could have contracted for the manufacture of the boxes and distributed them for less money than $40-80 per household with broadcast TV.
Remain calm. I’m betting that the roll out is delayed until summer.
January 25th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
What exactly do you think the Secretary of Commerce can do to solve this problem, and why can’t acting Secretary Otto J. Wolff do it?
January 25th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Can we get rid of the word “tapped” for Presidential appointments? I don’t get it. Are the appointees like a well of water, or oil? It’s strange and annoying.
January 25th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Re Ethan Hoddes’s question “What exactly do you think the Secretary of Commerce can do to solve this problem, and why can’t acting Secretary Otto J. Wolff do it? ”
—————–
Well, I think a DEMOCRATIC Secretary of Commerce might tell a DEMOCRATIC Congress that he needs $300 Million or so by February 1 to avoid a black eye for President Obama among 10 Million or so Obama supporters. Or else the DTV transition needs to be deferred for a few months.
Re Otto J Wolff, I don’t see why a LONGTIME REPUBLICAN POLITICAL APPOINTEE should give a hairy rodent’s posterior if President Obama gets a black eye right out of the gate.
See http://www.osec.doc.gov/cfo/otto.html
As an example, See Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts, Obama Flubbed Presidential Oath of Office of.
Did they serve Stupid Juice at the Inaugural or what?
January 25th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
By the time of William C. Redfield’s resignation in 1919, the wheels had really fallen off Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. The Versailles Treaty had failed ratification in the Senate, the 1918 midterms were a big win for the Republicans, Wilson had suffered strokes and alienated longtime political allies, Attorney-General Mitchell Palmer was undertaking the most serious violations of civil liberties in American history
C’mon, Matt – Redfield submitted his resignation on Sept 5, 1919. Wilson suffered his stroke on Oct 2. The first Palmer raid didn’t occur until November 7, 1919. The Senate didn’t reject Versailles until mid-November.
Redfield’s resignation preceded them all.
January 25th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Ethel-to-Tilly,
History has never been Matt’s strong suit. He’s a philosophy major, remember? He knows how to analyze problems but not a whole lot about content; on the former he’s pretty good, on the latter, pretty shaky.
January 25th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
doing, as usual for Commerce Secretaries, nothing important
Ya know, I guess I’m going to have to play crumudgeon and call foul on this whole line of argument. Matt often displays the attitude that if something hasn’t crossed his radar, for one reason or another, then it just couldn’t have been “important”. I don’t know if it’s youth, hubris, elitism, narcissism or just playing devil’s advocate but I’m not going to sit back and have Matt Yglesias be the arbiter of what in our history is “important” or not. Sorry. We deserve better.
Just a cursory review of Redfield’s term in office for example finds several things that matter – and consider the context of his times that when he (and the Wilson Administration) took office, the US was still very much a local player on the world stage – when he left, the US was *the* big economic power remaining. It didn’t necessarily have to happen that way.
Before 1913 we didn’t have aggressive overseas trade policies – Redfield made it a point to pursue one. Latin America throughout the 19th century was in the British economic sphere. The US plucked it for our own when the British were distracted during WWI and never gave it up – it didn’t have to happen that way, but for Redfield.
Before our entry into WWI in 1917 (don’t forget we were only in the war for 18 months), our economy was extremely unregulated, fragmented, and localized. Redfield and the Dept of Commerice were instrumental in achieving unprecedented total mobilization of the economy onto a war footing and turning the tide for the Allies. We are fairly familiar with the transformation of the US economy in WWII which is widely credited with helping us win that war – but consider that before 1941, the federal government had been involved in extensive intervention in business for the previous 8 years – there was no such comprable situation in 1917 – and much less time to do it in – it was a huge and ultimately determinative amount of work and Redfield was responsible for it. It didn’t necessarily have to happen that way.
Important instruments of diplomacy, still utilized today, such as the Trading With Enemy Act, did not exist before 1913 – we had no way of regulating or enforcing economic sanctions besides publishing lists of “contraband” in the newspapers. The laws and mechanisms introduced by Redfield ended up being instrumental in our relations with Japan before WWII, with the Communist bloc during the Cold War (and Cuba still,today), and with countries such as Iran, North Korea, and sponsors of terrorism today. You may agree or disagree with the efficacy of these actions, however, for better or worse, they, and the whole issue of foreign trade in general remain important parts of our diplomacy. It started under Redfield – it didn’t have to happen that way.
A whole lot of history, especially things like “business history” fly under the radar of the public consciousness. Doesn’t mean that it isn’t “important” (it’s kind of the height of ignorance to proclaim it as such). For better or worse, the United States became the country it is today, and we have the heritage that we have, because of our economic strength. But the point is, it *didn’t* have to happen that way. To wholesalely dismiss the role of Commerce Secretary as someone who “as usual” does “nothing important” because one is either unaware of their place in the big scheme of things, or because one’s ideology and world-view minimizes that importance is extremely disappointing.
January 25th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
A tour de fource, Ethel! Matt could use a bit of humble pie.
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I am really looking forward to your profile of Maurice Stans.
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